New Delhi: The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that No decision is yet taken on banning of cryptocurrency advisements. During Question Hour in Rajya Sabha while answering on cryptocurrency FM said “This is a risky area & not in a complete regulatory framework. No decision was taken on banning its advisements. Steps are taken to create awareness through RBI&SEBI.”
“The government will soon introduce a Bill” said Nirmala Sitharam in the House.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the government has no proposal to recognize Bitcoin as a currency in the country. In a reply to a question asked on Bitcoin in Parliament, the minister informed the House that the government does not collect data on Bitcoin transactions.
“The risk of cryptocurrency and it going in the wrong hands is being monitored,” the Finance Minister told Rajya Sabha today. Her remarks come in the midst of industry anticipation over fresh government regulation.
Citing statements from the RBI, the SEBI and the government, she underlined that investors need to remain cautious”There were other dimensions and the bill had to be reworked and now we are trying to work on a new bill,” FM said today.
Is the government contemplating banning ads that are misleading till the Crypto bill comes? As former Bihar Finance Minister Sushil Modi asked the question, she said: “There are ad guidelines that are being looked into to take a position on the issue.”
Will the centre bring a separate framework on the NFTs (non-fungible token)? “At this point, I won’t be able to say if there will be a framework. But all these matters are being discussed,” she replied when Sushil Modi raised the question.
On a question about how many people paid income tax on cryptocurrency, the Finance Minister said, “I don’t have the information about how much tax has been collected on cryptocurrency.”
India has the highest number of cryptocurrency holders in the world at 10.07 crore, according to broker discovery and comparison platform Broker Chooser. With 2.74 crore crypto-owners US came at the second position followed by Russia (1.74 crore) and Nigeria (1.30 crore).
On cryptocurrency, Prime Minister Modi has recently said at the Sydney Dialogue, “It is important that all democratic nations work on this (cryptocurrency) and ensure that it does not end up in the wrong hands, which can spoil our youth.”
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